After the Fall
After the Fall
- Location
- Wonga Park, Victoria
- Genre
- Post-apocalypse
- Conflict resolution system
- Boffer combat
- Duration
- Full Weekend
- Established
- 2016
- Games per year
- 1
- Credits
- Michael Waghorn
- Participation fee
- Between $150 for players, $40 for NPCs
- Rule system
- Custom rules
- Website
- After the Fall LARP: Facebook page
A post-apocalyptic blockbuster larp, no longer active. It ran as a trilogy and was held in Australia, loosely inspired by related genre media such as the Mad Max franchise. Despite the Australian media influences and environment, the game setting was set in the U.S. The games had attendance between 100-160 players. Combat used a combination of foam larp weapons and nerf-style blasters. Production was led by Michael Waghorn, who was also the official photographer of the game.
Setting
Set in the U.S.A. after "the Fall" of civilisation, in a small town named Sanctuary surviving in the midst of the Texas wasteland circa 2036. The town was populated by a number of different factions, coming to an uneasy truce around the shared need for food and water; the Faculty, the Militia, the Junkers, the Pit Fiends, the Mutants, and the Outsiders.
Game history
The first game, "Welcome to Sanctuary", took place on 13-15th of May in 2016 at Clifford Park Activity Centre in Wonga Park, near Lilydale, on the east side of Melbourne, Australia. It was preceded by a play-test on the 7th of February held at a public park, and a character-building workshop on the 30th of April held out of a community member's house; followed by a debrief. The early community had attendees coming from the local Jugger scene, as well as all across the earlier LRP and battle-game scenes, and elsewhere in the larp community.
Game 2, "New Friends", took place on 10th-12th of March in 2017 at the same venue, and was an even larger event with approximately 160 players.
Game 3, "Buyer's Remorse", took place in 9th-12th of March in 2018 at the same venue, with approximately 150 players.
An intended follow-up event was planned. Initially, the pitch courted controversy amongst some of the player base for being a departure from expectations built up by previous games: with no cabins available, only tent camping; and hints of walking-game challenges where players would have to carry everything their character needed on them, to fit a theme of survivalism. Some community members had concerns about accessibility of the game, whilst others welcomed the change as a unique offering within the local ecosystem of games. But ultimately the game never took place; GMs spoke frankly that on considering the different design questions and expectations put forwards by the community, and examining their own relationships to the large task of running the larps, they realised that they had lost some of their own excitement and that this posed a risk to the quality of the project. This prompted them to step back from the project until their passion returned.
Although After the Fall events have never officially returned nearly 10 years later, it is still talked about by the community as a production that left an impact.
External links
- After the Fall on Of Science and Swords blog
- After the Fall photo gallery on the Professional Hobbyist, the name Michael Waghorn produces photography under.